Microsoft Reportedly Develops LLM Series That Can Rival OpenAI, Anthropic Models

Microsoft is reportedly developing its own large language model series, known as MAI, which is capable of rivaling models from OpenAI and Anthropic. The name MAI is likely an acronym for "Microsoft artificial intelligence" and may also reference the company's internally-developed AI chip, Maia 100. Microsoft recently tested the MAI series to evaluate its performance, including its ability to power the company's Copilot family of AI assistants. The tests indicate that the MAI series is competitive with models from OpenAI and Anthropic. The evaluation suggests that the MAI series is geared towards general-purpose processing rather than reasoning. Microsoft is also developing a second MAI series optimized for reasoning tasks, although details such as the number of models and their parameter counts are unclear. It is also unknown whether the models will provide multimodal features. The development of the MAI series is significant as it could allow Microsoft to reduce its reliance on third-party AI models. Microsoft's Copilot family of AI assistants could potentially be powered by the MAI series, which would enable the company to have more control over its AI capabilities. Overall, the development of the MAI series is a major step forward for Microsoft's AI ambitions.